Slicing machine



E. R. KNoTT SLICING MACHINE July 3, 1934.

Filed-Nov. 6. 1951 2 sheets-sheet 1` July 3, 1934. E R, KNOTT 1,965,500

SLICING MACHINE Filed Nov. 6, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 awww@ Patented July 3, 1934 UNITED 'STATES PATENT O'-FICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to vegetable slicing machines, and has particular reference to machines for cutting such vegetables as potatoes into thin slices or so-called chips, which slices present grooved or corrugated surfaces.

A well-known Vpotato slicer that is widely used consists of a frame having a handle at one end and a fluted knife at the other end, and provided with a slide which is operable by hand and which is pushed back and forth over the fluted knife to slice a potato carried by the slide. By manually twisting the potato between successive slicing movements, the product can be so sliced that both surfaces are fluted and the slices have uniformly spaced perforations.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a machine capable of continuous operation, which will automatically effect the production of perforated vegetable slices having luted sur- 20 faces.

Another object is to provide such a machine that is of low manufacturing costs, and that is capable of producing the slices at high speed.

With said objects in View, and others hereinafter explained, my invention consists in the construction and combinations of parts substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings:-

Figure 1 is a plan View of the complete machine.

Figure 2 is a .side elevation of the same partly broken out or in section.

Figure 3 represents a section on line 3--3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 represents a section on line 4-4 of Figure 1, on a larger scale.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the slices produced by the illustrated machine.

Similar reference characters indicate similar parts or features in all of the views.

In the following description, the articles to be sliced will be referred to as potatoes, but it is to be understood that the machine is not limited to use for slicing such specific vegetables.

Mounted in suitable bearings supported by a cylindrical casing 12, is a shaft 13, (Fig. 2) driven by a suitable motor not necessary to illustrate. Also mounted in suitable bearings is a vertical shaft 14 connected to the shaft 13 by bevel gearing 15.

Secured to the top of the Vertical shaft 14 to be rotated thereby is a disk or table 16 having opposite slots or openings 17 over which the two fluted or corrugated knives 18 proj ect.

55 Each knife 18 (Fig. 4) is suitably connected, as

by spot welding, to the bevelled or inclined under i surface of the edge of a plate 19 removably secured by screws 20 in a shallow recess in the upper surface of the table 16, the proportions being such that when the machine is in operation as hereinafter described, sliding contact with the potatoes will have no effect other than the slicing. In other words, the entire surface of that portion of the machine which revolves, excepting for the slightly projecting 'knives 1S, is smooth.

Mounted to oscillate or swing laterally above and close to the surface of the knife-carrying table 16, and in a plane parallel therewith, is a plate 21. An arm 22 of said plate (Figs. l and 2) has a pivotal connection 23 with a bracket 24 of the casing 12, and said plate has a slot 25 the edges of which are preferably thickened. A pin 26 projecting up from the rotary table 16 carries a roll 27 engaged in the slot 25, said pin being located at one side of the center of rotation of the knife-carrying table 16 so that, as the table rotates, the plate 21 is oscillated laterally.

The edge of the swinging plate 21 opposite the pivot 23 has a lug or short rib 28 entering a guideway 29 (Figs. 1 and 2) supported by a bracket 36 of the casing 12, a protective guard also supported `by said bracket being indicated at 31.

Adjacent to opposite ends of the slot 25, the plate 21 has large openings 32 (Figs. 1 and 4) each of which is partially covered by a coneshaped hood member 33 hereinafter referred to as a cover or holder since it is to coverand hold a potato during the slicing operation. The plate 21, with its arm 22, openings 32 and cone members 33, may conveniently consist of a single casting, andis so illustrated.

In operation, the table 16, carrying the uted knives, may be rotated at high speed, such as forty rotations a minute, and an attendant merely drops potatoes successively into one or both of the openings 32 in the oscillating plate 21. In Figure 1, two sO-deposited potatoes are indicated at a, a. The said potatoes bear on the table 16 which, rotating in a clock-wise direction (Fig. 1), frictionally ensure positioning the potatoes toward the apexes of the cone-covers or holders, so that the first knife which then passes each arrested potato will remove a bottom surface portion of the latter and leave a fluted surface of the potato. bearing on the surface of the table 16 until the next knife reaches it and removes a slice which then drops through an open.. ing or slot 1'7 into a suitable receptacle for the slices, located under the machine. Continued rotation of the table successively removes slices,

each having upper and lower corrugated surfaces.

The special function of the oscillating potato holder will now be described; its object being to cause the grooves in each slice to cross each other at an angle sufficient to result in each slice b (Fig. 5) having small holes in it.

To explain this, it is to be assumed that the fluted knife 18 shown at the right in Figure 1 has just passed the potato that is in the holder 33 nearest the pivot 23 of the oscillating plate 21, with the result that a cut has been formed in the potato so that the corrugations of said cut are as indicated by the curved dotted lines of that illustrated potato. Owing to the crank roll 27 in the slot 25, the next semi-rotation of the knife-carrying table swings the potato-holding plate to an entirely diie'rent angle relatively to the angle at which the knives approach the peta-- toes so that the next succeeding cut made by each fluted knife is' at an angle crossing the flutings of the preceding cut. To illustrate the relationship of such angularity, the curved dotted lines of the potato in the holder at the left in Figure l are to be supposed to represent the flutings made by a knife while the potato-holding plate was in its other position from that shown, after which said plate has swung back to its illustrated position. Now, the knife shown at the left in said figure as approaching the potato, will remove a slice the flutings of which will angularly cross the flutings indicated by said dotted lines.

By introducing what is commonly known as a shim under the plate 19, a reasonable change can be made in the thickness of the slices produced by the machine. If such a shim is thick enough, the slices will be of a thickness sufcient to avoid having the grooves in their opposite surfaces intersect each other, thereby producing slices such as illustrated in Figure 5 but without having any small holes.

An important feature of my invention resides in the conical open-bottomed holders 33, whether there be but one or more of them. Each holder 33 has two smooth inner surfaces at an angle to each other. Therefore, when a knife is operating to cut a slice off from the bottom of a potato in such holder, the action of the knife urges the potato toward the apex of the holder and the opposite converging sides of the holder so grip the potato that it can not turn sideways and interrupt proper continuity of the grooves made by the fluted knife. Obviously, if the connecting pin 26 is removed and the holder-carrying plate 21 suitably secured in stationary position, the two fluted knives can produce what is known as shoe string potatoes, the knives simply operating to cut alternately and cause the cut grooves in the potato to intersect each other throughout their lengths instead of crossing each other as hereinbefore described.

When the slicing has proceeded so far that action begins on the upper or smaller portion of a potato, and the remaining portion is being reduced in size, the successive slicing urges the remaining piece toward the apex of the holder. Such smaller piece may be said to be gradually getting out of the way.

Another important feature of my invention resides in the structure of the slicing members which are, of course, removably mounted so that worn ones can be replaced by new ones. Each uted blade 18 is of thin steel and, being corrugated, is best mounted by spot-welding it to the bevelled edge of the relatively thick flat plate 19. However, I do not limit myself to bevelling the edges of the plates 19, as the planes of the blades might accord with the planes of the plates, in which case the plates would be secured otherwise than in hat shallow recesses in the table.

I do not claim herein the plate 19 having the bevelled edge to which the corrugated blade 18 is spot welded, as the same forms the subject matter of claims presented in my application Serial No. 692,547, filed October 6, 1933.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

l. A slicing machine comprising a rotary table having fluted knives at oppositevsides of its axis of rotation, a pair of potato holders carried by a member overlying the table and pivoted at one side thereof, and eccentric means carried by the table for effecting oscillations of said pivoted member in time with the rotations of said table.

2. A slicing machine comprising a rotary table having fluted knives at opposite sides of its axis of rotation, a pair of potato holders carried by a member overlying the table and pivoted at one side thereof, each of said holders including an upper portion presenting smooth inner surfaces at an angle to each other, and means for swinging said pivoted member in time withl the rotations of said table.

3. A slicing machine comprising a rotary table having iiuted knives at opposite sides of its axis of rotation, a pair of potato holders carried by a member overlying the table and pivoted at one side thereof, said pivoted member having a slot,

and a power operated shaft having a crank pin provided with a roll engaging said slot, the construction being., such as to effect oscillations of the pivoted member in time with the rotations of the table having the fluted knives.

EUSTACE R. KNO'IT. 

